HOUSE BILL NO. 2252 Offered January 10, 2007 Prefiled January 9, 2007 A BILL to amend and reenact § 15.2-965 of the Code of Virginia, relating to prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation. ---------- Patron-- Waddell ---------- Committee Referral Pending ----------

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 15.2-965 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 15.2-965. Human rights ordinances and commissions.

A. Any locality may enact an ordinance, not inconsistent with nor more stringent than any applicable state law, prohibiting discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations, credit, and education on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, national origin, age, marital status, or disability.

B. The City of Richmond may enact an ordinance prohibiting discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations, credit, and education on the basis of sexual orientation, provided that the scope of the protections provided by such ordinance are not inconsistent with nor more stringent than those of any state law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, national origin, age, marital status, or disability. For the purposes of this section, "sexual orientation" means having or being perceived as having an orientation toward heterosexuality, bisexuality, or homosexuality. "Sexual orientation" does not include sexual deviant disorders ("paraphilias") as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).

BC. The locality may enact an ordinance establishing a local commission on human rights which shall have the powers and duties granted by the Virginia Human Rights Act (§ 2.2-3900 et seq.).